[ RadSafe ] Some Australian Articles.

[Ivor Surveyor]

to Know-Nukes,

One has to have a sneaky admiration for the clever and ingenious verbal 
tricks used by some anti-nuclear activists to advance there arguments.  The 
modest epidemiological evidence of radiological harm resulting from the 
Chernobyl accident and described in detail by UNSCEAR 2000 annex J is 
dismissed in these terms by Dr. Jim Green writing in the "Green Left Weekly 
(1).

"Nuclear power proponents deny the likelihood that the 1986 Chernobyl 
disaster has killed thousands and will kill thousands more. They do this by 
hiding behind the complexities of epidemiological studies and using those 
complexities to obfuscate. However, using the standard risk estimates 
applied the world over, the likely toll from Chernobyl will be some tens of 
thousands of deaths."
In the Australian (13th April) (2) Dr Helen Caldicot writes:
"Contrary to the nuclear industry's propaganda, nuclear power is therefore 
not green and it is certainly not clean. Nuclear reactors consistently 
release millions of curies of radioactive isotopes into the air and water 
each year. These releases are unregulated because the nuclear industry 
considers these particular radioactive elements to be biologically 
inconsequential. This is not so.
These unregulated isotopes include the noble gases krypton, xenon and 
argon, which are fat-soluble and if inhaled by persons living near a 
nuclear reactor, are absorbed through the lungs, migrating to the fatty 
tissues of the body, including the abdominal fat pad and upper thighs, near 
the reproductive organs. These radioactive elements, which emit high-energy 
gamma radiation, can mutate the genes in the eggs and sperm and cause 
genetic disease.
Tritium, another biologically significant gas, is also routinely emitted from
Tritium, another biologically significant gas, is also routinely emitted 
from nuclear reactors. Tritium is composed of three atoms of hydrogen, 
which combine with oxygen, forming radioactive water, which is absorbed 
through the skin, lungs and digestive system. It is incorporated into the 
DNA molecule, where it is mutagenic."
Reference to UNSCEAR 2000 annex C.   The section C and tables 31-36 provide 
detailed information.
on the release of radioactive gases from nuclear power stations.   In para 
143 page 186 we read,
  " the concentration of the released radionuclides in the environment are 
generally too low to be measured except close to the facility. Therefore, 
the  dose estimates for the population (individual and collective doses) 
are generally based on modelling the atmospheric and aquatic transport and 
environmental transfer of the released radioactive materials and then 
applying a dosimetric model."

I leave it to others to judge if Dr. Caldicot's writing is in accord with 
UNSCEAR 2000.   The articles cover other aspects of nuclear power 
including; reprocessing, waste storage, economic costs, greenhouse gas 
emission, risk of plant malfunction, nuclear terrorism, limited 
availability of uranium fuel and much more.  Perhaps those with appropriate 
expertise in these areas could comment.   Some background information to 
the articles by Green and Caldicot is to be found  in references 3 and 4.

1.      http://www.greenleft.org.au/

2. 
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12835747%255E12332,00.html


3.      http://www.antenna.nl/wise/621-22/621-22_en.pdf

4.      http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/nuclear_power_climate.pdf

Ivor Surveyor [ isurveyor at vianet.net.au ]